A cold snap in corporate bonds

A cold snap in corporate bonds

Released Tuesday, 8th April 2025
Good episode? Give it some love!
A cold snap in corporate bonds

A cold snap in corporate bonds

A cold snap in corporate bonds

A cold snap in corporate bonds

Tuesday, 8th April 2025
Good episode? Give it some love!
Rate Episode

Episode Transcript

Transcripts are displayed as originally observed. Some content, including advertisements may have changed.

Use Ctrl + F to search

0:00

Hello listeners, our goal at

0:02

marketplace is to raise the

0:04

economic intelligence of the country,

0:06

and that goes for teens

0:08

and young adults too. The

0:10

newest season of Financially Enclined,

0:12

hosted by Janelli Espinal, tackles

0:14

topics like how to align

0:16

your values with your money

0:18

decisions, the skill of negotiating,

0:20

and what you can get

0:22

out of internships. Financially Enclined

0:24

is presented in partnership with

0:26

Green Life, the debit card

0:28

and money app for teens.

0:30

Greenlight helps teens learn to

0:32

earn, save, spend wisely, and

0:34

invest. Tune into financially inclined

0:36

wherever you find your podcasts.

0:38

This podcast is supported by

0:40

Odo. Some say Odo business management

0:42

software is like fertilizer

0:44

for businesses because the

0:46

simple efficient software promotes

0:48

growth. Others say Odo

0:50

is like a magic

0:52

beanstock because it scales

0:54

with you and is

0:56

magically affordable. And some

0:58

describe Odu's programs for

1:00

manufacturing, accounting, and more

1:03

as building blocks for

1:05

creating a custom software

1:07

suite. So Odu is fertilizer

1:09

magic beanstock building

1:12

blocks for business. Odu,

1:14

exactly what small businesses

1:17

need. Sign up at odu.com. That's

1:19

O.D.O.com. But we are

1:22

all going to wake

1:24

up tomorrow in a

1:27

whole different economy. From

1:29

American public media. This

1:32

is market plans. In

1:34

Los Angeles, I'm Kaa

1:37

Rizdahl. It is Tuesday.

1:39

This one is the

1:41

8th of April. It is

1:44

always to have you along,

1:46

everybody. It is possible. It's

1:49

desperately unlikely, but it is

1:51

possible, that between the time

1:53

this program gets put to bed and

1:55

the time you hear it, that President

1:58

Trump will have changed his mind. have

2:00

reconsidered the damage he's doing to global

2:02

trade and the American economy. But we

2:04

here cannot predict the news. We can

2:07

only tell you what the news is.

2:09

And the news is that at midnight

2:11

tonight, the president's tariffs take effect and

2:13

the whole global trade ballgame is going

2:16

to change. Some of those changes actually

2:18

have already started happening. Sabri Benashore told

2:20

us yesterday about the yield on two-year

2:22

treasury notes, how it's been falling on

2:25

expectations of a weaker economy over the

2:27

next couple of years. Those exact same

2:29

concerns are playing out in the corporate

2:32

bond market too. Over the past couple

2:34

of days, the issuance of corporate debt

2:36

has slowed to a crawl. Things are

2:38

so slow that some traders are saying

2:41

the corporate bond market has effectively shut

2:43

down. Marketplace is Justin Ho, gets us

2:45

going with what that is telling us.

2:47

The problem with the corporate bond market

2:50

is uncertainty. If you don't know what

2:52

XYZ companies' profits are going to be

2:54

six months from now, you're probably going

2:56

to charge more in order to lend

2:59

to them. That's Guilaba, chief fixed income

3:01

strategist at Janie Montgomery Scott. He says

3:03

companies feel it when their borrowing costs

3:06

increase, even a little. It's just like

3:08

a mortgage. If you have to pay

3:10

an extra quarter of a percent on

3:12

a 30-year bond issuance as a company,

3:15

today? Well, that's a lot of extra

3:17

expense over the next 30 years.

3:19

Doesn't sound like much, but a

3:21

lot. As a lot. Companies are

3:23

holding off borrowing money by issuing

3:25

new bonds. Winnie Caesar. They have

3:27

access to bank lines of credit,

3:29

which is basically like a massive

3:31

credit card. There's also the commercial

3:33

paper market, which is another kind

3:35

of short-term source of funding. Caesar

3:37

says companies will start inching back

3:39

into the corporate bond market, but

3:41

as long as the economy remains

3:43

this uncertain, she says companies won't

3:45

be issuing very many bonds. The

3:48

outlook for the broader economy and

3:50

tariffs and taxes and geopolitical. those

3:52

are going to be the things

3:54

that probably give memory. teams a

3:56

little bit of pause. Meanwhile in

3:58

a company that does issue new

4:00

debt, say to refinance old debt,

4:02

is going to have to contend

4:04

with those elevated interest rates. Evan

4:06

Raleigh, a finance professor at the

4:08

University of Connecticut, says that's going

4:10

to limit what companies want to

4:12

do with the money they borrow

4:14

by selling bonds. They still might

4:16

make the investment they think is

4:18

the home run, but they might

4:20

not make the investment that they're

4:22

less sure about. Raleigh says that

4:24

means companies might focus on short-term

4:26

investments that don't require much borrowed

4:28

money. say sprucing up a retail

4:30

storefront, but longer term investments that

4:32

require a lot of borrowed money,

4:34

probably not going to happen. When

4:36

you look at something oil and

4:39

gas or mineral extraction or maybe

4:41

even pharma or things that have

4:43

returns that are way out in

4:45

the future, those are the things

4:47

that are the first to go

4:49

when interest rates go up. And

4:51

so a slowdown in the corporate

4:53

bond market is a drag on

4:55

economic growth. I'm Justin how for

4:57

marketplace. Slow down was the word

4:59

oh the day on Wall Street

5:01

today as in started strong. Then

5:03

slow way down. We'll have the

5:05

details when we do the numbers.

5:19

There's a whole bunch of ways

5:22

to try to track what's going

5:24

on in this economy right now.

5:26

Justin, did corporate bonds just now?

5:28

We'll do commodities later. There are

5:31

banks too, about which the Dallas

5:33

Fed has a data point or

5:35

two. A new survey shows a

5:37

sharp slowdown in both loan growth

5:40

and loan demand in the Lone

5:42

Star State. Tariff induced uncertainty was

5:44

of course cited as one of

5:47

the major factors. Marked Blazer Elizabeth

5:49

Troval checked in with some lenders

5:51

in her home state today and

5:53

filed this report. Starting at the

5:56

border, in Laredo, IBC Bank's Jerry

5:58

Schwabble says he's seen a dip

6:00

in lending. His customers are importers,

6:03

exporters. and wait and see as

6:05

to what the implementation of the

6:07

tariffs will be to their particular

6:09

companies or their particular sector. In

6:12

Paris, Texas, in the northeastern corner

6:14

of the state, Greg Wilson is

6:16

president of Lamar National Bank, which

6:18

does commercial ag and consumer lending.

6:21

He worries if tariffs stick around,

6:23

construction budgets could get out of

6:25

control. That is a scary concern

6:28

because at that point, the bank's

6:30

going to have to either continue

6:32

to lend. beyond what was initially

6:34

contemplated in the scope or kill

6:37

the project and neither one of

6:39

those are good outcomes for banks

6:41

or our customers. It's the inflationary

6:44

impacts of tariffs on consumers that

6:46

has in-touch credit union CEO Kent

6:48

Lou Grande worried. He does a

6:50

lot of lending in the Dallas

6:53

area where people have already been

6:55

squeezed by rent and insurance hikes.

6:57

We are seeing an uptick in

6:59

non-performing loans, mostly on the consumer

7:02

side. We are. concerned that if

7:04

the present course continues, that could

7:06

worsen. In the Houston area, TDECU,

7:09

CFO, Jason Schneider is more optimistic.

7:11

He thinks some of the slowdown

7:13

is seasonal and that the dust

7:15

from tariffs will settle in the

7:18

second half of the year. We

7:20

also know for sure on a

7:22

little bit more around what the

7:25

Fed's thinking. If there is an

7:27

economic storm ahead, Texas is a

7:29

good place to weather it. But

7:31

that also means negative indicators here

7:34

could mean worse things elsewhere, says

7:36

Rice University's John Diamond. If credit

7:38

is tightening in Texas, then that's

7:41

probably likely going on other places.

7:43

For now, when it comes to

7:45

tariffs, the eyes of Texas and

7:47

the world are upon you. In

7:50

Houston, I'm Elizabeth Troval for Marketplace.

7:55

Yeah. One

8:02

of the things that happens when

8:05

you have a job in business

8:07

journalism in shall we say interesting

8:09

times Is that people you know

8:11

around town will stop you like

8:13

at the grocery store and say

8:16

to put it politely What the

8:18

heck is going on? So we

8:20

thought that might be a useful

8:22

way to spend a couple minutes

8:24

of air time. I went out

8:26

on blue sky yesterday and asked

8:29

all you all what's on your

8:31

mind tariffs the economy and Everything,

8:33

got a bunch of good questions.

8:35

Here are a couple, three of

8:37

them. First of all, from Mary

8:40

Peterson in Seattle. Is the US

8:42

economy about to freeze up? People

8:44

stop investing in the stock market,

8:46

stop buying things. Countries stop doing

8:48

business with the US because they

8:50

can't trust what President Trump will

8:53

do next. Well, the short answer

8:55

Mary, setting aside not trusting what

8:57

the president is going to do,

8:59

is no. The American economy is

9:01

a $27 trillion beast. It is

9:04

dynamic and diversified. The fundamentals, as

9:06

politicians like to say, are strong,

9:08

for now. But let's just take

9:10

the stock market for one example.

9:12

Which, Mary, you know, assuming you're

9:14

a regular listener, stock market is

9:17

not the economy. But when markets

9:19

go up, there is this thing

9:21

called the wealth effect. Even people

9:23

who aren't in the market feel

9:25

wealthier when stocks go up. So

9:28

they spend and consume and drive

9:30

economic activity. But the negative wealth

9:32

effect is real too. When the

9:34

market is down, people feel less

9:36

wealthy and so they don't spend

9:38

and the economy slows. So no,

9:41

the economy is not going to

9:43

freeze up. But it probably is

9:45

going to slow down. Second question

9:47

from John Ferrara in Eagleville Pennsylvania.

9:49

Does Congress, John wants to know,

9:52

have the ability to repeal the

9:54

tariffs that Trump has put in

9:56

place or are they powerless to

9:58

intervene? John. John, John, John. Article

10:00

1. Section 8, Constitution of the

10:02

United States of America. The Congress

10:05

shall have power to lay and

10:07

collect taxes, duties, imposts, and exises,

10:09

and to regulate commerce with foreign

10:11

nations. Congress explicitly has the tariff

10:13

power, but they've given it to

10:16

the president over the past couple

10:18

of decades. So yes, they could

10:20

repeal his tariffs. Republicans, though, in

10:22

Congress are choosing not to. From

10:24

Tom Hulse in Lake Forest Park,

10:26

Washington, trade deficits he wants to

10:29

know about. The word deficit seems

10:31

to be Trump's sticking point. Can

10:33

they be described in a way

10:35

that doesn't make the net importer

10:37

sound like they are on the

10:40

losing end? I actually think the

10:42

president's businessman brain sees the word

10:44

deficit or hears it and he

10:46

understands it to mean a loss

10:48

for a business person a deficit

10:51

often is a loss, but in

10:53

trade that's not true and it's

10:55

not right. I, for instance, have

10:57

a trade deficit with my local

10:59

beer store. I give them my

11:01

money. but they give me beer.

11:04

Same thing, if somewhat more complicated

11:06

in global trade, the United States

11:08

is a big, rich country whose

11:10

citizens like to buy things often

11:12

more cheaply than they can get

11:15

here. They like to buy them

11:17

from overseas. We send them money,

11:19

they send us stuff. Maybe, honestly,

11:21

it's a vocabulary problem, and we

11:23

should just stop calling it a

11:25

trade deficit. Okay, last question, my

11:28

personal favorite from Eric Wilkinson in

11:30

Baltimore. Why isn't the void answering

11:32

my screams? We

11:49

didn't get a question about the

11:51

US-Russia economic relationship today, but we

11:53

totally could. And more questions, by

11:55

the way, can come to us

11:57

on my blue sky feed. It's

11:59

kai-R-Y-S-S-S-S-D-A-L. at Blue Sky, Sky, Google

12:01

it, it'll get you there. Anyway,

12:04

Moscow was entirely absent from the

12:06

otherwise pretty comprehensive list of countries

12:08

that President Trump tariff last weekend.

12:10

The President's interests in rebuilding ties

12:12

with Russia are no secret. At

12:14

the same time, though, the post-invasion

12:16

sanctions are still in effect with

12:19

no sign that's going to change.

12:21

And in point of fact, the

12:23

Yale School of Management says more

12:25

than a thousand international businesses have

12:27

left Russia or pulled back drastically

12:29

in the past two years. But

12:32

what if? What if there was

12:34

business opportunity to be had over

12:36

there? Charles Hecker lived and worked

12:38

in Russia for decades. He's got

12:40

a new book out. It's called

12:42

Zero Sum, the Ark of International

12:44

Business in Russia. Charles, welcome to

12:47

the program. It's a pleasure to

12:49

be here. Thank you. Could we

12:51

do a level set here first

12:53

before the invasion of Ukraine? What

12:55

were things like? in the Russian

12:57

economy for American businesses? Well, before

12:59

the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, business

13:02

in Russia was feeling slightly apprehensive

13:04

but relatively comfortable. I mean, Russia

13:06

had gone from a fairly wild

13:08

frontier to a place that was

13:10

complicated, but where you could get

13:12

deals done. And I think that's

13:14

the way American businesses felt, that

13:17

it wasn't the easiest market to

13:19

be in, but it was a

13:21

place where you could do business.

13:23

And that was, as you said,

13:25

the result of three decades of

13:27

American and international investment. And the

13:29

promise was that, and look, we've

13:32

seen this play out before, most

13:34

specifically with China, the promise was

13:36

that changing the economy would change

13:38

politics in Russia didn't happen. What's

13:40

your sense of why? That's right.

13:42

So we made a series of

13:44

assumptions about what would happen to

13:47

Russia. And in the early 1990s,

13:49

the assumptions were a few things.

13:51

And that is that if you

13:53

invest... in a country that companies

13:55

can change the way a country

13:57

works. The other assumption was that

13:59

this would help steer Russia towards

14:02

becoming a liberal democracy. And in

14:04

fact, we assumed that the two

14:06

had to happen simultaneously, that you

14:08

couldn't have a market economy without

14:10

a liberal democracy. You know, we

14:12

found out in countries like China

14:14

that that's not necessarily the case,

14:17

but in early days, we thought,

14:19

you know, get lots of business

14:21

into Russia to learn about how

14:23

to run a market, and they

14:25

will democratize at the same time.

14:28

Then just to skip ahead a

14:30

little bit we get to the

14:33

annexation of Crimea we get to

14:35

the invasion American businesses Western businesses

14:37

largely leave not entirely but largely

14:39

leave and now what you have

14:41

over there is Chinese businesses Indian

14:43

businesses and the specter under President

14:45

Trump of maybe American businesses being

14:48

able to get back in there

14:50

What do you think? Well, that's

14:52

absolutely right. So while the Westerners

14:54

were away a lot of other

14:56

countries came to play. Famously, one

14:58

of the big highways, as you

15:01

get close to the city limits

15:03

of Moscow, that highway is sort

15:05

of dotted with car dealerships. And

15:07

those dealerships used to sell things

15:09

like folks wagons and Toyota's and

15:11

Nissan's, those car dealerships now are

15:13

almost exclusively selling Chinese cars. So

15:16

there's been some change on the

15:18

ground. But you're absolutely right, Kaita

15:20

point out that the conversation in

15:22

the United States now has completely

15:24

turned around. And with the advent

15:26

of the Trump administration, the attitude

15:29

of the United States now seems

15:31

to be towards normalizing relations with

15:33

Russia. And what that's done is

15:35

it's kicked off a fairly widespread

15:37

and fairly intense conversation about whether

15:39

or how or when companies should

15:41

go back. And not every American

15:44

company that left Russia will go

15:46

back. But I feel quite strongly

15:48

that a lot of companies are

15:50

talking about it. So let's say,

15:52

just to keep with cars here,

15:54

that Mary Barr, the CEO of

15:57

General Motors, and look, I'm making

15:59

this up, I have... no idea

16:01

what her plans are. But let's

16:03

say she calls you and says,

16:05

Charles, you've lived and worked in

16:07

Russia for a very long time.

16:09

You're an expert on international business

16:12

over there. What do you think? Should

16:14

I do it? What would you say?

16:16

Well, I think I would tell her

16:18

that the safest way to do business

16:21

in Russia right now is probably from

16:23

a distance. If there were a way

16:25

for General Motors to put cars in

16:27

boxes, and export them to Russia and

16:29

then unload them at a port, probably

16:32

somewhere around St. Petersburg, that might be

16:34

one way of doing it. But to

16:36

go build a factory that you'll want

16:38

to see there for 40, 50, 60

16:40

or more years, that's a big leap

16:42

before a lot of other questions get

16:45

resolved about the future of Russia and

16:47

international business. Well, just on the way

16:49

out here, let's lay out a couple

16:52

of those questions. What else is there

16:54

that's sort of floating around in your

16:56

mind? Russian intellectual property law

16:59

has been completely eviscerated

17:01

and what Russia is

17:03

allowing its own companies

17:06

to do is to

17:08

essentially counterfeit Western medication.

17:10

So if I were an Eli

17:12

Lily based in the US or

17:14

if I were a Novonordisk, for

17:17

example, based in Denmark, I'd be

17:19

quite hesitant to go back until

17:21

I knew that intellectual property rights

17:23

in Russia were strong. and defensible.

17:26

And I think maybe even most

17:28

importantly there's been a change to

17:30

the business elite in Russia that

17:32

may or may not want Western

17:35

business back and if they do

17:37

it will probably be on their

17:39

terms and conditions. Charles Hecker lived

17:41

and worked in Russia for a very

17:44

long time. His book on doing business

17:46

over there is called Zero Some, the

17:48

Ark of International Business in Russia. Charles,

17:50

thanks a lot. Appreciate your time. It's

17:52

a pleasure, thank you. Coming

18:10

up. Most of my friends

18:12

had actual children, and I

18:14

had this. A restaurant, but

18:16

so much more. First, though,

18:19

let's do the numbers. Yeah,

18:21

the Wawa's early enthusiasm, and

18:23

then reality hit, tariffs, midnight,

18:25

China, 104 percent. Down industrial

18:27

is off, 320 points, 8

18:29

tenths, 37,645, NASDAC down, 335,

18:31

210, 15,267. S&P 500 drops

18:34

79 points, 1 and 6

18:36

tens percent, 49 and 82

18:38

could have been, believe me

18:40

when I tell you, so

18:42

much worse. Bond prices down,

18:44

yield on the 10-year T-note

18:47

up 4.29 percent, you're listening

18:49

to Marketplace. Create an oasis

18:51

with Thuma, a modern design

18:53

company that specializes in furniture and

18:55

home goods. By stripping away everything

18:58

but the essential, Thuma makes elevated

19:00

beds with premium materials and intentional

19:02

details. Thuma combines the perfect balance

19:05

of form, craftsmanship, and functionality. With

19:07

over 17,000 five-star reviews, the Thuma

19:09

Bed Collection is proof that simplicity

19:12

is the truest form of sophistication.

19:14

Using the technique of Japanese joinery,

19:16

pieces are crafted from solid wood

19:19

and precision cut for a silent

19:21

stable foundation. Assembly takes just five-ish

19:23

minutes with no tools required, just

19:26

one hand tighten screw. Made to

19:28

last a lifetime with a warranty

19:30

to match and green guard gold

19:33

certified for cleaner indoor air. With

19:35

clean lines, subtle curves and minimalist

19:37

style, the Thuma Bed Collection is

19:40

available in four signature finishes to

19:42

match any design aesthetic. Headboard upgrades

19:44

are available for customization as desired.

19:47

To get $100 towards your first

19:49

bed purchase, go to theuma.c.o slash

19:51

marketplace. That's T-H-U-M-A-C-O-S-C-O-S-M marketplace to receive

19:54

$100 off your... first bed purchase.

19:56

This podcast is supported by Masterworks.

19:58

Is the smart money leaving the

20:01

US? While the S&P struggles to

20:03

break even, the most popular ETFs

20:05

for investing in Europe and China

20:08

keep climbing. Institutional investors are shifting

20:10

trillions from stocks into alternative investments

20:12

like private credit and blue chip

20:15

art. It's estimated that by next

20:17

year, Ultra High-Net worth individuals could

20:19

devote up to 11% of their

20:22

portfolios to fine art and collectibles.

20:24

Fortunately, diversifying your own portfolio into

20:26

art no longer requires billions or

20:29

special connections. Masterworks Art Investing Platform

20:31

has over a billion dollars of

20:33

invested capital from active investors. With

20:36

legends like Picasso and Banksy featured

20:38

in their previous art offerings, each

20:40

of Masterworks exits has been profitable.

20:43

distributing over $60 million to investors.

20:45

Marketplace listeners get priority access at

20:47

masterworks. As with any investment, past

20:50

performance is not indicative of future

20:52

returns. Investing involves risk. Sale returns

20:54

are not inclusive of unsold works.

20:57

Important regulation A disclosures can be

20:59

found at masterworks.com/CD. President Trump is

21:01

of course getting all the headlines,

21:04

but tariffs are far from the

21:06

only way that global trade gets

21:08

short-circuited. The Democratic Republic of Congo,

21:11

which minds a whole lot of

21:13

cobalt, 77% of global supply, should

21:15

you be curious, has banned the

21:18

export of that medal since February

21:20

and is now considering extending that

21:22

ban in what's becoming something of

21:25

a trend countries restricting mineral sales

21:27

to influence prices on the global

21:29

market. Daniel Ackerman explains what that's

21:32

going to mean for an American

21:34

economy that at the moment doesn't

21:36

really produce much in the way

21:39

of critical minerals. You can find

21:41

cobalt inside lots of technology, your

21:43

phone, electric car batteries, wind turbines.

21:46

I would be exaggerating but only

21:48

slightly if I said that airplanes

21:50

would fall out of the sky

21:53

without Cobalt. Dinah McLeod leads the

21:55

Cobalt Institute, a trade group, and

21:57

she says more than two-thirds of

22:00

the world's Cobalt is mined in

22:02

the Democratic Republic of the Congo,

22:04

or DRC. DRC really depends on

22:07

the tax revenues that are associated

22:09

with mining. The government took this

22:11

decision to try to prop up

22:14

the price of Cobalt. And prices

22:16

have been dropped. There's been a

22:18

significant jump. Thomas Kavanaugh is editor

22:21

of battery metals at the market

22:23

intelligence firm Argus Media, and he

22:25

says after the export ban started

22:28

in February, the price of a

22:30

key cobalt compound rose by more

22:32

than 80% and it could be

22:35

just the start. There's actually been

22:37

some talk of the DRC and

22:39

Indonesia maybe teeming up and creating

22:42

sort of an OPEC for minerals.

22:44

There hasn't yet been OPEC level

22:46

coordination among mineral producers, but governments

22:49

these days are taking more control

22:51

of their mining sectors. Cullen Hendricks

22:53

is senior fellow at the Peterson

22:56

Institute for International Economics. He says

22:58

they include not just the DRC

23:00

in Indonesia, the world's top nickel

23:03

producer, but also the top copper

23:05

producer, Chile. They are seizing this

23:07

moment where there's such an emphasis

23:10

on critical minerals to really reevaluate

23:12

their development models. One goal is

23:14

to ensure that the minerals mined

23:17

in those countries get refined there

23:19

too. But Hendrick says the Trump

23:21

administration wants to increase refining here

23:24

in the US. That is now

23:26

putting the United States in direct

23:28

competition with the policy ambitions of

23:31

many of these mineral-rich countries that

23:33

are also trying to move into

23:35

the processing space. Because when it

23:38

comes to critical minerals, Hendrick says

23:40

the real money isn't in digging

23:42

them out of the ground, it's

23:45

in turning them into something the

23:47

world can use. I'm Daniel Ackerman

23:49

for Marketplace. The

23:55

restaurant business is tough even in

23:57

the best times and the smaller

23:59

and more neighborhoody a place is

24:01

the tougher that business is. Marketplaces,

24:04

Samantha Fields, reports from Smith Street

24:06

in Brooklyn, New York. When Word

24:08

got out that Leanda was closing,

24:10

owner Ivy Mix says it started

24:13

filling up early every night. Everyone

24:15

wants to get a piece now

24:17

that we're closing. Leanda is a

24:20

cocktail bar and restaurant to focus

24:22

on Latin American spirits, tequila, mezcal,

24:24

rum, cassasa, and food from all

24:26

over the region. Papusa's mafongo tacos.

24:29

Inside, there's a long wooden bar,

24:31

gold ceiling, and candles on the

24:33

tables. Out back, there's a private

24:35

airy patio with string lights and

24:38

creeping vines. Mix opened Landa almost

24:40

exactly 10 years ago. This little

24:42

place, this little bar, has been

24:45

like my whole life. You know,

24:47

most of my friends had actual

24:49

children, and I had this. But

24:51

this winter, she and her co-owners

24:54

decided not to renew their lease

24:56

and to close. I mean, there's

24:58

many reasons, right? The restaurant bar

25:00

industry is difficult. It's become more

25:03

difficult over time, the whole country

25:05

over. But especially in New York,

25:07

she says, rent and insurance have

25:09

gotten much more expensive. So has

25:12

the cost of labor. I'm the

25:14

type of person that thinks that

25:16

it should go up, but as

25:19

a business owner, I'm like, whoa.

25:21

If you look at our labor

25:23

costs now compared to 2017, it's

25:25

a huge difference. Same with food.

25:28

We sell a lot of guacamole

25:30

here. The cost of avocados I've

25:32

skyrocketed. Then there are credit card

25:34

processing fees, which take three or

25:37

four percent of the sale every

25:39

time someone pays with a credit

25:41

card, which is all the time.

25:44

At the end of every month,

25:46

it's like, here you go master

25:48

card and visa, here's all this

25:50

money. It all adds up in

25:53

a business where if you're doing

25:55

really well, you're making maybe 10

25:57

cents on the dollar. And at

25:59

the end of the day, we're

26:02

like, like, maybe not. Like maybe

26:04

not right now, maybe not like

26:06

this, maybe not this iteration. A

26:08

lot of restaurant owners are feeling

26:11

the same. way. Five years out

26:13

from the start of the pandemic,

26:15

mix says people tend to think

26:18

of it as being over. But

26:20

the effects of COVID are still

26:22

very much here. If you got

26:24

loans out during COVID, they're due

26:27

now. If you are trying to

26:29

still make up from losing all

26:31

that revenue in COVID, we're in

26:33

that now. And the jubulence of

26:36

post-vaccine 2021 and 22, when everyone

26:38

was going out a lot, is

26:40

decidedly over, she says. Now, people

26:43

are eating out less and drinking

26:45

less when they do. Then there's

26:47

the future and tariffs. Everything I

26:49

sell here is from a different

26:52

country, literally everything. Also, most of

26:54

my staff is from a different

26:56

country. It is very scary to

26:58

look at this and be like,

27:01

okay. If I'm forecasting two or

27:03

three years from now, do I

27:05

like when I'm seeing? If my

27:08

lease is up now and I'm

27:10

not going to get penalized for

27:12

leaving it, I might just take

27:14

the out. One of Mix's biggest

27:17

worries about closing was what would

27:19

happen to her staff, but she

27:21

says almost all of them have

27:23

jobs lined up. And she's not

27:26

leaving the business entirely. How's it

27:28

going? Lots of regulars have been

27:30

coming in these last few weeks

27:32

to say goodbye. I came here

27:35

on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I'll be

27:37

here on Friday and Saturday, so

27:39

five days in a row. Devin

27:42

Plimpera used to come in a

27:44

few times a week when he

27:46

lived in the neighborhood to sit

27:48

at the bar and have a

27:51

cocktail and tacos. Even now that

27:53

he lives an hour away in

27:55

Queens, he still comes. This last

27:57

week, he's been getting here early

28:00

every day to make sure he

28:02

gets a seat at the bar.

28:04

Tonight I'm going to be here

28:07

for a very long time. I

28:09

will definitely be going a cocktail

28:11

mocktail cocktail. It's a celebration of

28:13

how great the bar was and

28:16

also, you know, a bit of

28:18

a week. His old regular coffee

28:20

shop nearby just closed recently too.

28:22

It's weird, he says. It makes

28:25

him sad. Businesses and people make

28:27

up a neighborhood. So I... consider

28:29

this neighborhood my favorite neighborhood city.

28:31

But he says with friends who've

28:34

moved away and his favorite business

28:36

is closing, he might have to

28:38

start rethinking that. I'm Samantha Fields

28:41

for Marketplace. Oil, the U.S. benchmark

28:43

West Texas, often another 3.7 percent

28:45

today, 58.46 a barrel, which, yay,

28:47

cheaper gas. But also, boo, oil

28:50

is down because a slowing economy

28:52

means lower demand. Our digital and

28:54

on-demand team includes Kerry Barber, Jordan

28:56

Manji, Philen Mietten, Janet Nguyen, Olga,

28:59

Oxman, Ellen Rolfus, Edward Silver, Virginia

29:01

K. Smith, and Tony Wagner. Francesca

29:03

Levy is the executive director of

29:06

Digital and on-demand. And I'm Kai

29:08

Rizzedall, we will see it tomorrow,

29:10

everybody. This is 8 p.m.

Unlock more with Podchaser Pro

  • Audience Insights
  • Contact Information
  • Demographics
  • Charts
  • Sponsor History
  • and More!
Pro Features